Martin Luther, Lyndal Roper
Martin Luther, Lyndal Roper
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Martin Luther
Renegade and Prophet

Author: Lyndal Roper

Narrator: Michael Page

Unabridged: 15 hr 40 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/14/2017


Synopsis

On October 31, 1517 an unknown monk nailed a theological pamphlet to a church door in a small university town and set in motion a process that helped usher in the modern world. Within a few years Luther's ideas had spread like wildfire. His attempts to reform Christianity by returning it to its biblical roots split the Western Church, divided Europe, and polarized people's beliefs.

Yet Luther was a deeply flawed human being: a fervent believer tormented by spiritual doubts; a prolific writer whose translation of the Bible would shape the German language yet whose attacks on his opponents were vicious and foul-mouthed. Perhaps surprisingly, the man who helped create in the modern world was not modern himself: for him the devil was not a figure of speech but a real, physical presence.

Acclaimed historian Lyndal Roper explains how Luther's impact can only be understood against the background of the times. As a brilliant biographer, she gives us the flesh-and-blood figure, reveals the often contradictory psychological forces that drove Luther forward, and the dynamics they unleashed, which turned a small act of protest into a battle against the power of the Church.


About Lyndal Roper

Lyndal Roper is the Regius Professor of History at the University of Oxford. Her books include Martin Luther: Renegade and Prophet and Witch Craze: Terror and Fantasy in Baroque Germany. She lives in Oxford, England.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Always on February 16, 2018

A nonfiction book that covers the life of Martin Luther and the actually nuance behind the reformation as well as the splintering of the movement with time that lead to the many sects of Christianity we see today. The book also shows that many of the things we see in the evangelic movement today has......more

Goodreads review by Jamie on June 15, 2020

Revolutions need hard men, leaders who are are focused, uncompromising, and messianic. They do not have to be right in their pronouncements, just forceful enough to pull their followers along and keep them in line. They must be ruthless with dissenters and permit no questioning of their authority. I......more

Goodreads review by Matthew on May 27, 2017

Such a great biography (and IMO, the best cover for a book on Luther). This biography differed by really trying to focus on Luther's internal life, his emotions, and his thinking. While the book got weighed down here and there, I learned A LOT and thoroughly enjoyed it. Due to this being Reformation......more

Goodreads review by Melora on October 31, 2017

It's a complete coincidence that I finished this on Reformation Day, as I'm neither Lutheran nor a huge Luther fan girl (and rather less a fan after reading this), but there it is. Luther was an authoritarian and a bully, and he could be a spiteful, crude, vicious hypocrite, spewing hate at Catholic......more

Goodreads review by Elizabeth on August 10, 2017

This biography was very interesting and remarkably detailed. Although it was somewhat long, it kept me turning pages until the very end. This book was more than a decade in the making, and that shows in the care taken with the in-depth exploration of Luther's life. This well-illustrated biography de......more